First Lord of the Rings Card Spoilers for Magic: The Gathering revealed

The first cards revealed for The Lord of the Rings - Tales of Middle Earth set are here!

Check out the Card Gallery below, alongside a few quotes from an exclusive interview with Aaron Forsythe, Mike Turian and Ovidio Cartagena:

"Gandalf the Grey is the quintessential fantasy wizard, so it made sense for his card design to be blue-red as those are the colors that do the most “wizardy” things in-game." - Aaron Forsythe, Vice President of Game Design.

"The circular shape of this set’s showcase frame is meant to express what happens “inside” the Ring; it symbolizes the power that the quest for the One Ring can have in the different characters’ internal struggles." - Ovidio Cartagena, Art Director.

"Making those maps as full art lands compliments the card illustrations to create an immersive experience for players" - Ovidio Cartagena, Art Director.

"With The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, we were inspired by the novels, to create our own maps of Middle-earth that blended the vast lands traversed by the Fellowship on their journey with our own Magic Basic Lands." - Mike Turian, Product Architect.

" To be authentic to what a map would look like, we choose colors that would most strongly resonate and then used our Magic frame and mana symbols to communicate gameplay information. - Mike Turian, Product Architect.

Alongside this first version of Gandalf, it was also revealed that at least two more would come in the set, making up three versions (Grey, White and Friend of Shine), at least, for the iconic character:

"There are actually several versions of Gandalf in the set (including Gandalf the White, whose color identity will not surprise you), and we show him at different points throughout the story by making him different colors." - Aaron Forsythe, Vice President of Game Design.

"Tolkien’s rich storytelling allowed us to explore how Gandalf (and others) present themselves to different allies and at different times throughout the story.” - Ovidio Cartagena, Art Director.

Furthermore, the presence of some iconic artifacts from the iconic Middle-Earth universe were also pointed out as important elements in the artwork, which might indicate we may see them soon included in the set as cards themselves:

"Gandalf’s sword Glamdring was something we thought about from very early on in the creative visual process. I think fans are going to be pleasantly surprised to find many of their favorite artifacts from Lord of the Rings in the card set." - Ovidio Cartagena, Art Director.

More details about this legendary set can be found here.